Google's self driving car

[Woodenhead]

Looks like this sub-forum may no longer be necessary in the not-too-distant future:

Google close to unveiling self-driving car

California-based company working on vehicle that will drive without a steering wheel or control pedals.

Google is developing a new self-driving vehicle that will be able to drive without any human input, the technology giant said in a blog post.

The car, which is the latest in the company's range of self-driving prototypes, will not have a steering wheel or pedals for braking and accelerating.

The small electric car will instead be controlled by software and sensors, which Google claims can detect objects at distances more than "two football fields" away.

Google's co-founder Sergey Brin, speaking at a technology conference in California, said that the company aims to build up to 200 models in the short term and hopes the car will be available in a number of cities within a couple of years.

The Internet search company has been testing self-driving vehicles since 2009, incorporating sensors and radar in to standard models, such as the Toyota Prius.

The California based firm said it would work with partners to bring the product to the public, if the technology developed as it hoped.

Brin said the cars could operate as a service, picking up passengers when summoned, and potentially even as fleets of interconnected "trains", the Reuters news agency reported.

Google said that it would start trials this summer with safety drivers and cars fitted with manual controls.

The first vehicles would have speeds capped at 40km per hour but the company said speeds could be increased to 160km per hour once they had been proven to be safe.

Technology analyst, Carmi Levy, told Al Jazeera that autonomous cars would be an "inevitable part" of the way people travel in the future.

He added that the transition to autonomous driving would open up a "litany of legal, insurance and even ethical issues".

Levy said that while there was a risk of vehicles being hacked, consumers and governments would have to accept that with any new technology "perfection may not be universally attainable".

A handful of US states, including California and Nevada, have passed legislation to allow testing of self-driving cars on public roads.

Brin said he was optimistic that the technology would be approved for testing in the US and overseas in the future.

Related reading:
Google Self-Driving Car Could Lower Car Insurance Rates for Drivers
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[Captain Awesome]

Fascinating.

We'll have cars driving us around with immense precision yet we'll still have homeless people.

Just a random late night thought.

[Woodenhead]

heh well that's quite a thought. Lots of tangents in that direction...

I like the concept of being able to call your car to come pick you up via your phone, etc.

[Captain Awesome]

Yup. Taxi drivers might be a thing of the past fairly soon.

[Bpeep]

Just more #@$^ to fix, imo.
I think I'll get an old 66 Chevy.

[Woodenhead]

Just more #@$^ to fix, imo.
I think I'll get an old 66 Chevy.

haha I'll take one of each.

[Woodenhead]

Things that would be affected by self-driving vehicles:

emergency vehicle response times
trucking industry
pizza delivery
public transit
airport shuttle services
school buses
roadkill
I wonder how they'd perform in inclement weather? (snow, fog...)

[Atomoa]

...and 6 billion out of "traffic ticket" coffers every year.

100 billion in upped productivity - no traffic jams

[Captain Awesome]

Imagine self-driving long haul trucks crawling along highways non-stop.

[Bsuds]

Imagine self-driving long haul trucks crawling along highways non-stop.

Will be way safer than some of the idiot drivers out there now!

[Captain Awesome]

Not to worry, we'll have older driverless cars confusing pedals and crashing into buildings autonomously just to keep things the same!

[Bsuds]

Not to mention forgetting where they are going.

[samsquench07]

Could you hypothetically, send the car by itself to the pizza shop, the pizza shop then would place the pizza in the car and the car would continue to drive itself home?

[Bsuds]

Could you hypothetically, send the car by itself to the pizza shop, the pizza shop then would place the pizza in the car and the car would continue to drive itself home?

Sure, why not, but I suspect it will be awhile before the Gov't allows them on the road without a person able to take over if necessary.

[Captain Awesome]

Yeah, if you drive for a living...I think it's time to start looking for another job: